News | October 7, 1998

A.M. Best Conference To Tackle Insurers' Use Of E-Commerce

A.M. Best Co.'s Fall Conference is to concentrate on the insurer's use of e-commerce. The two-day event is aimed at insurance executives, technologists, marketers, and those involved in the regulatory, ratings, and product-development process.

"Our goal was to develop a conference that looks at real-world insurers and how they're using electronic commerce to transform their businesses," said Paul C. Tinnirello, A.M. Best's senior vice president of information services. "There is no shortage of conferences that focus on technology alone; we believe we've developed an industry event that serves the unique real-life technology-related concerns and information needs of insurers."

The keynote speaker will be Richard L. Huber, chairman of Aetna Inc., who will relate how Aetna refocused itself, focusing on technology as its core. Other featured speakers will be Robert Hamilton, who joined CNA after developing online applications for Federal Express, and James Harkness of TIAA/CREF, an insurer that was handling Internet-based customer communications before there was a World Wide Web. Larry Mayewski, senior vice president in A.M. Best's life/health division, and Eric Simpson, senior vice president in the property/casualty division, will discuss e-commerce and information management issues from a rating perspective.

Topics to be discussed at the Conference will include:

  • The Search for Standards: New Developments in Insurance/Reinsurance Links.
  • Lessons of an Insurance E-Business Pioneer.
  • Beyond Data Warehousing: How One Insurer Made It Work.
  • Defending the E-Commerce Fortress.
  • Who's Liable Now: Emerging Insurance Issues for 2000 and Beyond.
  • Building Quality Into Insurance E-Commerce.
  • Getting Electronic Shelf Space in Banks.
  • Building the Global Info Highway: One Broker's Solution.
  • E-Business Opportunities: Reselling In-House Expertise.

The conference will be held on November 16-17 at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston, MA. For more information, call 908-439-2200, ext. 5818.